Painting machine



p 1933- J. F. TOWNSEND 1,926,465

PAINTING MACHINE Filed May 20, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet l W ?M;AT 3mm,

Sept. 12, 1933. J F TQWNSEND 1,926,465

PAINTING MACHINE Filed May 20, 1929 3 Sheets-Shet 2 Sept. 12,1933. J. F.TOWNSEND PAINTING MACHINE.

3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed May 20, 1929 wm mmhm NM .2 R an V: 1a mMmNPatented Sept. 12, 1933 I I w v I PAINTING MACHINE Joseph FranklinTownsend, Elyria, Ohio, as--:

signer to The Worthington, Ball Company, V f Elyria, Ohio, a'corporationof Ohio Application May 20, 1929. Serial No. 364,425 3 Claims. (01. 91-445)" FlCli,

'My invention relates to painting machines and Fig. '2 is a plan view ofthe apparatus of Fig. relates particularly to painting machines adapt-1-. In this figurev certain of the ball conveyors able for use in thepainting of'spherical objects engaging the driving sprocket, are. shownin such as golf balls. transverse section; In this figure also thetrough Golf balls as commonly manufactured of rubis omitted topermit abetter view of the under- 00 be! material, require to begiven a toughelastic lying holder guiding rails. V finishing coat of a paint materialapplied while Fig. 3 is a View partly in side elevation and fluent, andthereafter congealed to give the ball partly in medial section, of aseries of ball holdthe bright white color usually desired. ers, for theconveyor mechanism of the forego- It is very importantthat the paintmaterial ing figures. 65

be applied evenly all overthe surface of the ball Fig. 4 is an, endelevational View of the mechand that a uniformamount of material beapanisin of Figs. 1 and 2." plied to each ball, since golf. balls arecommonly Fig. 5 isa view of a rail support, a pair of required to beheld to close limits with respect supported opposed cooperating spacedrails, being to diameter and weight also an uneven ooatillustrated insection and a ball holding spool 70 ing will tend to unbalance theball,and a ball roller being illustrated therebetween in ,eleunevenly. coatedwith paint will be more susvational view. H ceptible to dislodgment ofportions of the paint Referring now to the different figures ofdrawunevenly applied. ing in all of which like parts are designated by.An object, therefore, of my invention is to prolike referencecharacters, the mechanism of 75 vide for the uniformplacement of afiuentpaint -my invention may be supported on a table, as material ongolf balls or the like. illustrated, having legs 1, a table top 2forming Another object of my invention is to provide the suppor in bed fr the me hanism, and an for the rapid consecutive placement of fluentunderlying shelf 3 supporting the driving mechaint material on golfballs' in commercial proanism comprising an electric driving motor l,and 80.

duction. a gear box 5 housing aseriesof speed reducing Another object ofmy invention is to provide gea through w d gears and 7, Vd

for the efficient conveyance of the golf balls Sprocket 3 P j above t eleveln the from a hopper or other like source ofsupply to table top ,orbed 2. v 1

the painting 'rneclianism and for the efficient e sprocketfi may be CiI' YIOMEBG t and rapid conveyance ofthe paintedballs therea r lative ys w b B -O J rate, W h i y from, in such manner whereby the balls coateddifferent OperatiVe D D y from a z /z' with congealable paint materialmay be disrevolutions per minute up to 10 revolutions. per tracted fromthe painting mechanism without minute. injury to the applied coat ofpaint. The sprocket, as will later appear, effects the Another object ofmy invention is to provide continuous processional driving of 1 a seriesof for the efiicient and rapid consecutive painting ball holders to andfrom the painting jet station. of golf balls'or the like. p A secondelectric motor 9, carried by the shelf Other objects of my invention andthe inven- 3, through a belt 10 effects a rapid spinning of tion itselfwillbecome apparent by reference to the ball holders when at andimmediately adjathe following description of'an embodiment of .cent thepainting jetstationas willlater more my invention, made especiallyapplicable to the fully appear. 1 painting of golf balls, and thedrawings referred A pair of spaced rails 11 and 12 is supportedat totherein which illustrate the said embodiment. intervalsby supports suchas 13, see Fig. 5, and

45 Referring'to the drawings: extend approximately tangentially from theFig. 1 illustrates in side elevational view, a sprocket wheel 8. on theside of the mechanism mechanism for conveying golf balls from aloaddevoted to the loading operation, then transing station to 'apainting station, and for raversely. across the end 14 to the sidewhere, ina pidly rotating the balls in rapidly changing portion onxtheapproach side of the so-called planes while subjected'to theconvergingjets of painting jet station, the position of which is atomized paintmaterial. In this view certain indicated by the arrow 16,'theparallelrails are parts of the mechanism are omitted for simdeflected outwardlylaterallyof the border 15 and plicity, and to facilitate a betterunderstanding is arcuately continuedto merge with the parallel of theother parts illustrated, as will be further rail portions disposed abovethe end border 17 5 made clear. of the body, terminating adjacent thesprocket of the device, the balls will always be 8 in approximatelytangential relation therewith.

The parallel rails 11 and 12 in'the embodiment illustrated, are ofrectangular cross-sectional form, see Fig. 5, and are bolted atintervals by bolts such as 18 to the upper ends of the diverging forks19 of the bifurcated rail support 13, having the pedestal flanges 21 bywhich they are secured to the bed 2. The parallel rails 11 and 12 arenot necessarily continuousthroughout their length, but may be broken atintervals as shown at 22 and 23, as a convenience in manufacture. Therails, :of course, are also interrupted in their portions contiguous tothe sprocket 8, since the sprocket receives from the rails the spoolroller elements 23 of the ball holders, generally indicated at 24, beingin driving relation with the holders. I g

The spool roller elements 23 are associated with the ball holders 24 inthe manner perhaps best illustrated in Fig. 3, wherein the rollerelements 23 are illustrated as being in the form of a spool having endflanges 26; bushings 27 of non-frictionmaterial are telescoped withinthe axial bore of the spools and projecting by a reduced portion 28through aligned apertures of successive chain links suclras 29, 30,interlinking their abutting perforated ends. ,Spindles 38 depend axiallyfrom the ball holders 24 to which they are rigidly secured and extendthrough and beyond the bushing 27.

The spindles are provided with reduced ends 33, as indicated in dottedlines for the left hand spindle of Fig. 3, being threadedat their endsfor the reception of a nut 34 which rigidly secures a peripherallygrooved pulley 35 against the spindle shoulder formed by the reductionof lower ends in each holder support 24 and are preferably equidistantfrom each other and of approximately equal length.

The golf balls, or other balls, shown at 37 are adapted to rest on theupper end of the pins 36 to be rotated thereby when the spindles 38 arerotated during the operation'of the machine by rotation of the pulleys35 affixed to the lower ends of the spindles as described.

The spindles are axially separated each from the other by adistanceslightly in excess of the diameter of the balls adapted to besupported by the pins thereon so that in the normal operation slightlyseparated each from the other. I Y

The successive links such as 29 to 32 inclusive comprise links of acontinuous chain extending below and intermediate the parallel rails forthe entire length of the rails and in addition extend across the breakin the rails occupied by the holder spool engaging sprocket 8.

Each of the adjacent pairs of links are joined by a separate bushed ballholder spindle, the

,roller 23 of which is adapted to be guided by the parallel spaced rails11 and12, there being preferably an unbroken succession of equallyspaced ball holders moving in a circuitous path from the loading stationto the jet station 16 and therefrom to the sprocketS, whereat ballspainted by the operation of the jet at station 16, will be removed fromthe pins upon which they are supported, either manually or in any othersuitable way,

I 40, 41, 42, 43 and 44 show a plurality of pulleys journalled to thesupporting table, of which the pulleys i0 and43 are disposed to rotatein a horizontal plane, whereas the others are vertically rotatable,adapted to cooperate with a driven pulley F15, driven by the motor 4,whereby a continuous belt 85 of preferably rounded crosssectional formmay be passed over all of the pulleys to 44 inclusive in such a way thatportions thereof, indicated at 46 and 47, will engage the outwardlydisposed peripheral portions of the grooves of the pulleys 35 affixed tothe bottom ends of the spindles 38, and for as long as such pulleys areapproaching the jet position 16 and until they have been movedsubstantially therefrom toward the sprocket 8. The pulley 43 isjournalled upon a bracket 80 which is slidable in a slideway 81 of asupporting member 82 which is bolted to the table and is adapted to holdthe belt 85under tension by a spring 83 secured to the bracket 89 and anadjusting screw 84.

The speed of the motor 9 andthe speed of the pulley 41, which is drivenfrom the motor, is such that the contact between the pulley portions 35and the belt 85 will cause these pulleys to be rotated at a high rate ofspeed to spin the ball holders 24 and the carried balls 37 supported onthe ball holder pins 36 at a very high rate.

As before stated, these pins are slender and long and rapid rotationwill tend to throw their ends outwardly and this tendency, though notsuificient to cause separation from the balls, acting irregularlyunequally on the different pins of a holder, will rotate the ball onrapidly changing planes of rotation whereby practically. all faces ofthe ball will be exposed to each of the painting jetsemanating fromnozzles 50 and 51 disposed preferably one above the other and atapproximately a 90 relative angular relation to the so-called jetstation 16, and the jets will converge upon the same ball simultaneouslywhile the ball is being rapidly spun on rapidly changing axes and whilebeing moved bodily by the link chain underlying the'rails as abovedescribed,

I andby the propelling influence of the continuously rotated sprocket 8.

-To;the nozzles 50 and 51, which are of any wellknown atomizing type,commonly employed for such painting purposes, air under high pressureand liquid paint under a relatively lower pressure, is continuouslysupplied and emerges together in a practically atomized stream formingconverging jets, as before described; and. striking against the outersurface ofthe ball at slightly spaced portions one above the other whilethe ball is spinning on indifierently Variable axes.

The atomizing operation being not a' part of this invention and being apart of the priorv art,

it is not described in detail nor is the supply of paint andair, paintreservoir and air pumps beingwell known and well known in associationwith each other for like purposes.

The loading apparatus is merely diagrammatically shown and comprises ahopper 53 suitably formed having an outlet spout 54 adapted to freelypass a stream of balls from the trough on to the wire pins 36 of. thedifferent ball holders. The balls descend .by gravity through the trough55, at an angle preferably not in excess of 15 from the horizontal, andone of the balls, such as 37, lodges on a set of holder pins 36, thisball, until sufficiently moved in the direction of the arrow 56, Fig. 1,will not permit thev next succeeding ball to drop on to the nextsucceeding set of pins, but upon sufficient movement of the ball 37, thenext ball will be permitted to drop and will first make engagement withthe forward ball 37, subsequently subsiding by a rearward fallingmovement on the tops of the three pins of the next succeeding set. V i

The vertical plane of the trough will be understood to be disposed.parallel to that of the rails 11 and 12 underlying the same and will bepointed in the direction of movement of the holders, as indicated by thearrow 56.

After the balls have reached the sprocket 8, they are removed by tongs,manually operated or otherwise, to a drying tray 57 or other apparatusof suitable form, for drying, afterwhich the balls may be again put intothe trough for the application of a second coat of paint.

Having thus described my invention as it ha been embodied in a mechanismof certain specific construction, I am aware that the same may beembodied in structures varying widely from that herein illustrated anddescribed but without de-' parting from the spirit of my invention.

Iclaim:

1. In a machine for processing golf balls, a conveyor mechanism,a'driving sprocket, a circuitous conveyer track extending from andreturning to said sprocket, said track comprising a laterally spacedpair of longitudinally extending parallel track elements, supportsforthe track elements, a plurality of rollers disposed between the trackelements being disposed in relative spaced relation longitudinally ofthe track and having upper and lower laterally extending flanges adaptedfor engagement with the upper and lower surfaces of said track elements,said rollers adapted for rotation on substantially vertical axes, ballsupports carried by each roller for supporting a ball to be conveyed inthe circuitous path of said track, chain means comprising chain linksinterconnecting said rollers, said rollers being suitably spaced topermit said rollers to fit between thesprocket cogs, a spindle journaledwithin each roller supporting said article support thereon andprojecting from the opposite end of the roller from said support, apulley secured on the projected endof the spindle, and a driving" beltdisposed adjacently to a portion of said track and making drivingengagement with spindles passing said belt, and a ball processing meansadapted to operate on passing balls disposed adjacent said belt, whilebeing rotated thereby.

2. In a painting mechanism for golf balls, the combination of a seriesof ball holders, means forprocessionally moving the ball holders in acircuitous, path, means for effecting rapid rota- 7 tion of the ballholders at least a portion of said path painting jet means disposedadjacent such portion, comprising means to apply in an" atomized jet,paint to balls carried by passing holders, a plurality comprising atleast three upstanding pins supportedby their lower ends on each of saidholders and-having upper ends'disposed sufficiently close together as tocooperatively support a ball to be painted, loading means for saidholders comprising an inclined trough extending convergingly toward theprocessionally moving balls .on the approach side of the painting jet inthe direction of movement of said balls. and adapted to effect downwardmovement of the balls therein on to the tops of each set of pins, saidsets of pins being so spaced relative to the diametersof said balls andthe degree of inclination of said trough being such that only one ofsaid balls will be dropped on to each set of pins and to preventdropping of a second ball until the first ball has processionally moveda predetermined distance to releasethe next 'succeeding ball fordelivery to the next succeeding set of pins. 1

3. In a painting mechanism for balls, the combination of a series ofball holders, means for processionally moving the ball holders incircuitous path, painting means disposedadjacent at least a portion ofsaid path comprising means to apply in an atomized jet, paint to ballscarried by pass- 1 ing holders, said ball holders each comprising threeor more grouped upwardly extending pointed elements adapted tocooperatively support a ball to'be painted, loading means for saidholders comprising an inclined ball guideway extending 1 converginglytoward the processionally moving balls on the approach side of thepainting jet in thedirection of movement of said balls, and adapted toefiect downward movement of the balls thereozronto the supportingelements of 1 each holder, said supporting elements on the holders beingso spaced and the degree of inclination of said guideway being such thata downward prolongation of .a straight line passing through the centersof the last two balls in the guideway 1 will pass below a line extendingbetween the upper ends of the more remote pins of a ball holder disposedin position to receive a ball, whereby only one of said balls will bedropped onto each holder and whereby, dropping of a 1- second ball willbe prevented until the first ball has processionally moved apredetermined dis-'

